Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Feb. 14th through Feb. 20th

February 14, 2016 JanF Community 183

Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings posts give the Moose, old and new, a place to visit and share words about the weather, life, the world at large and the small parts of Moosylvania that we each inhabit.

Welcomings will be posted at the start of each week (every Sunday morning). To find the posts, just bookmark this link and Voila! (which is Moose for “I found everyone!!”).

The format is simple: each day, the first moose to arrive on-line will post a comment welcoming the new day and complaining (or bragging!) about their weather. Or mentioning an interesting or thought provoking news item. Or simply checking in.

So … what’s going on in your part of Moosylvania?

…

NOTE: The comments page will now split off after 20 or so left margin comments with the most recent comments on the current page. To see the older comments, scroll to the bottom of the page and use the link.

…

45 Comments

  1. I thought some of you all might be interested in this webcast of the eminent (!) Constitutional law scholar Erwin Chemerinsky’s talk this morning at my law school – the talk is titled “The Case against the Supreme Court” but he does talk a bit at the beginning about the consequences of Scalia’s death. The whole talk is very interesting and not highly technical, so I thought some might want to take a look. Enjoy!

    https://mediasite.video.ufl.edu/Mediasite/Play/74d287c7f26842068a7ecb4b432a3b771d

    • Excellent summary by Dean Chemerinsky.

      Here are a couple of links to articles talking about the politics of the pick. If, as is widely assumed, the president’s pick is ignored (the exact slight to be determined: no hearing, rejected in committee, rejected by cloture, voted down), then his choice will have electoral implications.

      Tom Goldstein at SCOTUSblog for Loretta Lynch

      NY Mag Chas Danner on energizing minority voters.

      It will be interesting to watch. The White House seems to suggest that they will have a nominee to submit to the Senate next week when they reconvene.

  3. Good morning, meese! Tuesday …

    It is 24 degrees in Madison on its way up to 35. Morning snow showers are in the forecast.

    It is voting day in Wisconsin, the spring primaries. We will vote on who will face off for a Supreme Court seat in the April election (which is when our presidential primary will be). Three people are running so the field needs to be narrowed. One is Rebecca Bradley, a partisan hack appointed to the court by Scott Walker to finish the term of a justice who died last fall and one is JoAnne Kloppenburg, an appelate court judge who became famous for running against Justice David “Choker” Prosser in the 2011 race … and nearly beat him with the help of progressive outrage over Walker’s dictatorial rulings. Bradley was appointed 3 times in the last 4 years to successive jobs that she is unqualified for: county judge, appellate judge and now Supreme Court judge. Her latest act of “jurispudence” was to vote on a case that had been heard before she even joined the bench but which her corporate masters wanted her to weigh in on. I hate that our judges are elected because the money being spent to buy “justice” in our state is obscene.

    Former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is still dead! A new name being floated for the court is Loretta Lynch. Certainly, she will not be surprised by Senate shenanigans expected to surround any confirmation hearings. Certainly we know how she feels about voting rights and civil rights.

    Stories like this make you wonder about the universe settling a score:

    A vote to block the Obama administration’s ambitious climate regulation was one of Antonin Scalia’s last acts as a Supreme Court justice. His sudden death may have opened a new path to the rule’s survival.

    Scalia died Saturday. Four days earlier, he voted with the other conservative members of the high court to put a hold on the administration’s plans to implement the Clean Power Plan while it is litigated.

    The regulation is designed to lower carbon emissions from U.S. power plants by 2030 to 32 percent below 2005 levels. The rule is the United States’ main tool to meet the emissions reduction target pledge it made at U.N. climate talks in Paris in December. […]

    In January, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit had unanimously rejected the same request for a stay that the Supreme Court granted last week. The appellate panel has set oral arguments on the merits of the case for June 2.

    The randomly-drawn appeals court panel is viewed by lawyers on both sides as relatively favorable for the administration, featuring two Democratic appointees and one Republican appointee.

    If the appeals court upholds the rule and the challengers take the case to the Supreme Court, they would face an uphill battle in getting the five votes needed for a win without Scalia. The four liberal justices are seen as likely to uphold the rule. So, the best result the challengers would be likely to get is a 4-4 split. When the court is evenly divided, the lower court ruling stands, meaning the regulation would survive.

    Win win for the planet.

    See all y’alls later!

    • Ha, Jan! The latest name I’ve seen floated on Facebook is that of Anita Hill. I’d LOVE to see her on the Supreme Court!

      In 1993 I was at work, listening to my radio with earphones, as was every single other editor. The Hill hearings were unbelievable.

      • I saw that same thing!

        If floating that trial balloon made Clarence Thomas wince, it was worth discussing. But memories of that hearing would probably be embarrassing for Joe Biden, for one thing. And I am not sure I would wish for someone to have a lifetime appointment to be in the same room with her abuser.

        She is 59 years old, by the way. We need someone much younger, 50 is kind of the target for someone who you want to have an impact on the court for a generation. Scalia was 49 when he was appointed

  4. How popular will Marco Rubio’s “shut down the Cuban embassy on Day One” be?

    Reflecting a move of 33 percentage points in the past 10 years, a majority of Americans — 54 percent — currently see Cuba in a favorable light, according to Gallup. The nation’s favorability rating went up across the U.S. political spectrum, but by far the biggest gain was among Democrats.

    A “strong majority” of Republicans still view Cuba unfavorably, Gallup says, with only 34 percent seeing Cuba favorably compared to 73 percent of Democrats and 53 percent of independents.

    Run on that, Marco!

    Today, the Obama administration will sign an aviation agreement re-establishing air service between our two countries for the first time in decades.

  5. Good morning, Meese! It’s 40 F. on an icy morning here in NoVa. The roads are so slick from freezing rain that the newspaper hasn’t even come. Very thankful Dearly Beloved did not go to work yesterday, as there were 500 accidents in Virginia alone. Our high today will be 48 F.

    The Fairfax County schools are closed, so I expect Miss Pink Cheeks will be spending the day over here. She’s seven years old today.

    When I sneak a peek at FaceBore, it’s still full of posts from people I previously respected, vowing that they will NEVER vote for Hillary Clinton. Now I’m getting nervous about the Nevada caucuses. Very pleased that The Trumpet is making the lives of Bushes and Cruz missiles uncomfortable. It’s about time the Bushes heard the truth.

    Still can’t believe the Rethugs have declared that President Obama is not the president when he has 11 months left to serve! Les batardes. Hope they get theirs.

    • Happy Birthday to Miss Pink Cheeks! :) I don’t do FB and this election has done nothing but confirm the sanity of that decision. I have 5 grandsons covered by SCHIP and a DIL who only has insurance because of the ACA “no pre-existing” rule. No way am I voting for anybody of any party who wants to take that away. As to the Rs – they haven’t accepted Obama as the president since he was elected in 2008. (Join you in the wish that they get theirs.)

    • Best Birthday Wishes Diana! I hope you and Miss Pink Cheeks enjoy your day together.

      • Thank you, ladies! She’s not here yet, which leads me to believe that the whole family is at home today—again. I texted birthday greetings to her on her dad’s phone.

  6. Back to work. Wow that alarm was early. I brought my medal in to show off. Very few thoughts in my head. It’s going to be another record-breaking warm day — I’m running the a/c at home….. It might, possibly rain at the end of the week, but probably not.

  7. Like anotherdemocrat I’m south of that diagonal jet-stream line that’s giving you northern and eastern Meese such yukky weather. 50 heading for 55 and mostly sunny today. (I don’t want to think about what the summer is going to be like.) As soon as I get some coffee in me, I’m heading over to the Court House to vote. Y’all stay safe and warm. {{{HUGS}}}

  8. Good morning, 46 and still dark in Bellingham. Yesterday was so rainy and foggy I feel like I haven’t seen the sun for days!

    Ava is determined to learn to sew. As we were finishing the rag doll yesterday she said……”I’ll be here most of the time next summer, because you and Grandpa aren’t really very busy!” Her enthusiasm is charming, but I need an energy infusion :) And it looks like Ron will need his other knee replaced sometime this year. I’m glad joint replacement is an option for him but we both dread going through another surgery and recovery.

    • Ow! on the knee replacement. Mine are creaky in damp weather but my own for which I thank goddess just about daily. Holding good thoughts/sending healing energy to RonK and the rest of your household/family. Glad Ava wants to learn to sew – handing knowledge down is why there are grandparents in the first place. :)

  9. Morning all! I’m also south of that cold front line, so it’s a pretty nice week here, highs in the 60’s and low 70’s, and sunny, after a big rain last night.

    I forgot the Grammys were on last night – I wouldn’t normally watch anyway, but I knew Hamilton would win the cast album, and it did. What I missed was a live performance from Broadway of the opening number, the cast performing and then accepting the Grammy in front of their Broadway audience. I need to find that on YouTube today!

    I too am worried about Nevada – less so about South Carolina, but I hope the margin doesn’t shrink too much. Every day, the Sanders campaign confirms in different ways that he’s really running against Democrats, not for us, trying to split the party on the strength of his independent supporters. I used to have respect for Bernie Sanders – no more, he’s an unprincipled career politician trying to build his own party from within the Democratic primary system that he’s hijacked. Attacking Hillary, via his campaign manager, for not being trusted to choose a SC nominee that would overturn Citizen’s United is simply the outside of enough. I know I would have to vote for him if he steals the nomination from the real Democrats, but god would it be painful.

    All right, enough of that, everyone let’s be cheerful and expect better things to come and hopefully they will! Have a great day!

  10. Yikes, princesspat, that’s not fun to look forward to—another knee replacement for Ron.
    Hope all goes well and that the recovery process isn’t too tedious. :(

    Have fun sewing with Ava! Isn’t it funny how little ones and their parents never think old people have any plans? I am constantly interested in this issue.

  12. Good morning, meese! Wednesday …

    It is 18 degrees in Madison on its way up to 25. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.

    The president held a presser yesterday and (surprise!) the question of SCOTUS and the Republican clown car and our own primary came up. I haz the video and transcript and will post it shortly.

    We had an election for Supreme Court. Here are the results:

    Pet judge of Scott Walker will start out in the hole because the math looks like the April 5th spring election will favor Judge Kloppenburg. Joe Donald is a black judge from Milwaukee County and his voters would be expected to vote for Kloppenburg.

    And if you wondered about the divided politics of Wisconsin, here is the tale of two counties:

    Blood red Waukesha Country (a white-flight suburb of Milwaukee) versus true blue Dane County (home of librul Madisonians).

    This would be a huge victory for justice and a ginormous poke in the eye to Scott Walker. My hope is that Donald Trump has the GOP nomination locked up by April 5th and sad Waukesha County Republicans stay home to weep into their martinis.

    See all y’all later!

  13. A few news items, found on the Internets –

    Cliven Bundy will stay in jail:

    “U.S. Magistrate Judge Janice Stewart also said Bundy should not be released ahead of trial because there is a risk he won’t show up for future court dates. Federal prosecutors called the 69-year-old “lawless and violent” in a document filed before the hearing, an assertion his attorney and family denied.”

    Ya think?

    ~

    Chickens come home to roost for North Carolina lawmakers procrastinating on new congressional districts maps (ordered on Feb. 5th and due on Friday). They were hoping for a Scalia vote for a stay:

    Vanderbilt University Law School’s Kareem Crayton, an election law specialist, told The Charlotte Observer that lawmakers’ hopes to overturn the federal court’s ruling was dashed by the death of Scalia.

    “Bottom line: It appears the proverbial bill for this prolonged and delayed legal fight has now come due for the General Assembly,” Crayton explained. “The short timeline makes it now pretty certain that they will have to draw a map that helps set things right.”

    At the hearing on Monday, Democratic state Senate Leader Dan Blue pointed out that Republicans should have started drawing new districts when the court struck down the existing districts on Feb. 5.

    ~

    Secretary Clinton made a major speech on race at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. In it she condemned the politics of assuming that Democrats would just “have” the black vote and everyone who contributed to systemic racism:

    We Democrats have a special obligation. If we’re serious about our commitment to the poor, to those who need some help, including African Americans, if we continue to ask black people to vote for us, we cannot minimize the realities of the lives they lead or take their concerns for granted.

    You know, you can’t just show up at election time and say the right things and think that’s enough. We can’t start building relationships a few weeks before a vote. We have to demonstrate a sustained commitment to building opportunity, creating prosperity, and righting wrongs — not just every two or four years, not just when the cameras are on and people are watching, but every single day.

    So here’s what I ask of you: Hold me accountable. Hold every candidate accountable. What we say matters, but what we do matters more. And you deserve leaders who will do whatever it takes to tear down all the barriers holding you back and then replace them with those ladders of opportunity that every American deserves to have.

    I am looking for video and transcript to post later after I get my work done.

  14. Good Wodin’s Day morning, Moosekind! Fair and 27 F. at 8 a.m., going up to 45 F. later here in Northern Virginia.

    So glad to hear about the chickens coming home to roost in North Carolina, Jan! Denise says not to be nervous about Nevada, but it’s a caucus. Caucuses do make me nervous. Also, too, even the supposedly safe diaries at GOS are now being infested by The Other Side, you betcha. When, oh, when is Nevada? I know the Dem primary in SC is not until Saturday the 27th, so we have a while to wait.

    Wishing a good day to all!

    • It is really difficult to poll Nevada or any caucus state for that matter. Plus there is talk of Republicans voting in the Democratic caucus which they can because of the time difference between the Democratic caucus and the GOP caucus (Tuesday the 23rd) – they would probably not show up in polls of “likely Democratic caucus goers”. There are two reason to not worry about Nevada. One is that Hillary will likely do well there and two is that it is not significant from a delegate standpoint. The real test will be in South Carolina where Bernie Sanders’ brand of populism will be tested on a very diverse population. After South Carolina we will have a pretty good idea about the shape of the rest of the nominating contest.

  15. Slept badly again last night. Kept waking up hot & thirsty. I have an acupuncture appointment today (thank you, groupon!), I had said for post-marathon relief, I may change my request to insomnia relief.

    I got my I’m With Her bumper sticker in the mail yesterday. Happily put it on my freshly washed car. Early voting has started for the Texas primary.

    It’ll be in the upper 70s today, 80s tomorrow & Friday. I really dread the summer, if this is February.

    Earworm is not helping me stay awake, it’s If There’s A Rocket Tie Me To It by Snow Patrol. A sweet love song: A fire, a fire — you can only take what you can carry. A pulse, your pulse — it’s the only thing I can remember. I break, you don’t — I was always set to self-destruct, though. The fire, the fire, it cracks & barks like primal music.

  16. it’s early, but this may be the tweet of the day:

    TheDean’sReport ‏@TheDeansreport 3m3 minutes ago

    Trump’s new slogan should be: “Come for the white supremacy, stay for the sexism”

    • I just finished reading an article about the quandary that Republicans find themselves in in South Carolina:

      “We do need to get the field down to Trump, Cruz and somebody,” said Henry Barbour, a Republican National Committee heavyweight from Mississippi. “New Hampshire tried, but it’s clear as mud.” […]

      As the third major contest in the primary campaign, South Carolina is accustomed to settling divergent results in Iowa and New Hampshire, with the winner here emerging as the nominee in each presidential cycle from 1980 to 2008. But those typically were two-man contests as the race headed South: Ronald Reagan dispatched George H.W. Bush in 1980, the elder Bush defeated Bob Dole in 1988 and George W. Bush topped John McCain 12 years later.

      This time, the gaggle of candidates means there’s no clean divide on ideology, personality or anything else.

      Even before South Carolina votes, Republican leaders — and even some voters — are making the case that candidates who aren’t competitive need to swallow their pride and let go of their presidential ambitions.

      Good luck with that!

      They have a traffic jam in the Establishment lane with Bush, Rubio, and Kasich and no one is landing any real blows on Trump. South Carolina’s muck-a-mucks want Bush … but no one it the rest of the country does.

  17. 26 at dawn, 36 now, and heading for 65 and sunny in Fay., AR. I never take any election for granted but I’m not really worried about NV. Hillary won on numbers, only lost on delegates last time and she’s a quick study. More to the point, so is Robby Mook. And Bernie is no Barack Obama. For one thing, not being a Dem, only the politically savvy people outside New England know who he is. Obama’s convention speech in 2004 already had him on most Dems’ radar for the future. (Those like me just didn’t expect that “future” to be 2008.)

    GOS is pretty bad – I’ve collapsed both the wreck list and the most read list and stay strictly in my “stream” and the Pootie diaries. (Right now with Trish out of action I find I’m not always following whoever is doing the diary of the day, but I can usually find it checking my “group”.) As to the trollish invaders, I’m posting recipes. (Although I did post one on request yesterday for a person who just wanted it. :) Not everybody who gets a recipe is a troll. heh). But Lysis HNV is still just about the best place to get Hillary news – the diaries themselves are very informative, but the comments usually include stuff pertaining to what’s going on – both that Lysis missed (usually shows up in the next day’s diary) or late breaking.

    Still got papers piles all over my desk. Still hoping I can get the required information or approvals back today so I can process them and get them off my desk. Hope I’ll get a minute to read the Obama comments on SCOTUS etc. Everybody stay safe and comfortable. {{{HUGS}}}

    • Hey, bfitz! I made your cheese biscuits on Monday, which we ate with tomato soup while snow continued to fall outside. Easy, fast, and yummy! I think I’ll make them again before the winter’s out.

      • Glad you liked them. The nice thing is the ratio of 2 parts flour to 1 part grated cheese holds for both increasing and decreasing the batch. I can make just enough for me or I can make enough for when my sons’ families are over using that recipe

  18. Good morning, 47 and raining in Bellingham today. I’m sleepy and slow this morning, but I’ll go to the pool soon and the day will proceed regardless.

    RonK sees the Doc today re his knee. Our hope is a series of Synvestic shots will buy him some time because neither one of us can tolerate another surgery and recovery now. Thanks to all for your best wishes.

    Good news re our environment. The Cherry Point project isn’t cancelled yet, but it should be. And the decrease of oil and coal train traffic is very welcome. As is the increased support for alternative sources of energy.


    With coal prices in steep slide, even once bullish analyst sees risky investment

    Asian coal markets are so weak that two export terminals proposed for Washington once considered vital are now irrelevant, according to an industry analyst who typically has offered some of the industry’s most bullish forecasts.

    The Feb. 10 report was written by Andy Roberts, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie, who less than three years ago was boosting the long-term prospects of the Gateway Project proposed at Cherry Point in Whatcom County and the Millennium bulk terminal in Longview, Cowlitz County.

    But rapid changes in coal’s fortunes show what a miscalculation the investment in the ports was, Roberts wrote.

    In addition to stiff opposition from tribal nations and community and conservation groups, the economic wind has fallen out of the projects’ sails. Asian demand has weakened to the point that coal from the Powder River Basin won’t be competitive in the market until well after 2020, Roberts wrote.

    Railroad carload traffic in coal is also through the floor, with no pickup in sight, according to statistics from the Association of American Railroads, in more evidence of the big coal fade.

    • The power companies who saw that the end was near on coal-fired plants and were pro-active rather than reactive will come out better. The 27 states suing the EPA over the Clean Power Plan are not doing their business constituents any favors. Here is an example of moving forward:

      Right next to the old coal plant, a brand new natural gas power plant is under construction and scheduled to be completed by the end of 2017. Companies building the plant say it will be more efficient than the old coal plant.

      While a coal plant pretty much has to run all the time, a gas plant can be shut down and fired back up more easily to meet regional electricity demands, according to Dave Meehan, head of Sunbury Generation, which owns the site where the new plant is being built.

      Win win for power generation and for our planet.

  19. Morning all. Listening to the video of the President’s presser yesterday, thanks for posting that Jan! I’m really going to miss listening to him.

    I had my Twitter feed up last night, and it really sounds like Bernie’s surrogates to reach out to POC are reaching new lows – this “Killer Mike” guy saying, apparently quoting a woman Bernie supporter which doesn’t make it any better to me, that ‘having a uterus doesn’t qualify you to be President”. And then he and the Bernie supporters doubled down defending it. This is a guy who invited men to meet him at a strip club to talk politics. Good god.

    But worse on Twitter this morning is talk of a CNN Nevada poll that has Bernie and Hillary tied – Armando is taking apart the cross tabs and doesn’t think it adds up, that the networks are desperate for a tie/horse race and massaged the data a bit. I hope so – Armando also said he can only see Sanders winning Nevada if he wins 60% of the white vote making of 65% of caucus voters, and holds Hillary to 60% of the POC. That sounds like a steep hill for him to climb, but who the heck knows. I just hope Hillary’s ground game in Nevada gets her people to the caucuses.

    On the SC business, I continue to be amazed at the brazeness of the Republicans in simply refusing to act as if the President is in fact the President. I was thinking about the fiction Republicans like about W, that neither 9/11 nor the banking crisis and bailout happened on his watch. Isn’t it amazing that W’s Presidency apparently began a year after he was elected, and ended a year before Obama was elected, while Obama’s term began early and now apparently ends as soon as a Supreme Court justice dies. They live in a fantasy time line.

    All right, time to get ready to teach class tomorrow – have a great day everyone.

    • I forgot to add one of the most outrageous things Sanders has said in this election season – he said his ONLY “litmus test” for a SC nominee is whether he or she supports overturning Citizen’s United. THE ONLY ISSUE!!!!!! So I guess Roe v Wade is negotiable, Sen. Sanders? Are you kidding me? This is outrageous, and I agree with Armando, it’s just disqualifying for anyone running for the office that will nominate SC justices. It’s appalling.

      • Maybe having a uterus doesn’t qualify you to be president but caring about UterusHaving-Americans should be a requirement … at least for Democrats.

    • Excellent poll from PPP this morning:

      New Public Policy Polling surveys of the 12 states that will hold Democratic primaries for President between March 1st and 8th, conducted on behalf of American Family Voices, find Hillary Clinton leading the way in 10 of 12, with double digit leads in 9 of them. Bernie Sanders has an overwhelming lead in his home state of Vermont and also leads in Massachusetts. The race is close in Oklahoma where Clinton is ahead by just 2 points, but she has double digit leads in the other 9 states that will have primaries that week:

      As one pundit noted, this is not a firewall … it is a fire. When you get out of the states where the only issue is Wall Street, Hillary wins hands down. In many of these states, she wins on the issue of Wall Street.

      Game over after March 15th. Then we can get our act together for November. I know that people think that a knockdown dragout fight is good for us somehow. I am not so sure. In 2012 in Wisconsin, our party came together on Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison) to be our Senatorial candidate very early in the year. That allowed her to save her money to go after her Republican opponent who had emerged from a bruising primary. The sooner we come together, the better we are to go after whoever emerges from the bruising GOP presidential primary.

    • I was never that fond of Bernie as a person – and am much less fond of him as I’ve gotten to know more about him – but I wanted somebody viable in the race, just to make it a race. The media had already started on its standard Hillary Rules of never mentioning anything she said that couldn’t be twisted to something nasty, never reporting her issues, positions, or plans, focusing on her appearance, voice, etc. With a viable competitor they have had to spend as least half their Hillary time actually reporting her as a candidate. For that Bernie was good – until he started depending on his BernieBros and Rove’s SuperPac to try to take Hillary down. Apparently he knows very well he can’t compare to her on issues, experience, or plans and has a Trumpian ego that has to win by any means.

Comments are closed.